


Napalm Sticks to Bunnies

by ArmaLite



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vietnam, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gun Violence, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:40:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26292040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmaLite/pseuds/ArmaLite
Summary: As Nick continued to ponder the scenery while the bellowing sound of the Huey engine working with its prop droned on, he found it increasingly difficult to imagine that a war was going on in this country. Hell, he found it difficult to believe that he himself was there. Nick Wilde, the cunning street mammal, who for years was able to get himself out of any bind, avert any trouble, was hit with something he simply couldn’t dodge; the draft for the Vietnam War.
Relationships: Fangmeyer/Wolford (Zootopia), Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Comments: 17
Kudos: 30





	1. Goodbye My Sweetheart, Hello Vietnam

**Author's Note:**

> Alright maggots, I'll keep this brief. I've been reading Judy x Nick Zootopia fanfictions for quite a while now, its an obsession I've developed out of seemingly nowhere and hate myself for everyday. Eventually I wanted to get in on the action, but since I'm a fucking moron I wouldn't have been able to write any post-canon normal shit that was original. I always liked alternate uni fanfics, and me being heavily interested in the Vietnam War, it was only natural that the idea planted itself inside my head. At first, I thought it was a pretty funny idea, going as far as choosing the abrasive and humorous title for this work that has at least peaked your interest. As comedic of an idea as it is, I DO plan on writing this fanfiction unironically, and in full. There's nothing I hate more than PUSSIES who don't finish their fanfictions, especially if they have phenomenal writing skills. I plan on updating this fic once a week, and if I don't, then fuck you and remember that I won't ever give up on this thing, just maybe delay it a little. If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to comment, but if I think it's stupid I WILL berate you for it, so comment at your own peril. I'll be using a lot military and Vietnam era lingo, so if there's anything you don't understand, feel free to check the end notes for reference, as that's where I'll be explaining that stuff. I'll be titling each chapter after a Vietnam era song I think corresponds well with it, so be sure to check it out and maybe listen while you read. I think that pretty much does it, so without further adieu, enjoy, you sonsabitches!!

_Hot, and unbearably humid._ Those were the only words Nick could think of when he first arrived in Vietnam. That much he expected, when he was shipped overseas. What he _wasn’t_ expecting was how diverse and stunning the landscape was. Gazing out of the exposed side of the Huey transport helicopter, he took it all in. In one moment he would be looking down at varying species of Vietnamese animals toiling away in vast rice fields, and in the next he would be overwhelmed by the sight of endless junglescape, complete with rugged mountain terrain and countless strips of rivers coiling in a seemingly meaningless pattern along the jungle floor, it’s silver glitter a stark contrast against the lush green. 

As Nick continued to ponder the scenery while the bellowing sound of the Huey engine working with its prop droned on, he found it increasingly difficult to imagine that a war was going on in this country. Hell, he found it difficult to believe that he himself was there. Nick Wilde, the cunning street mammal, who for years was able to get himself out of any bind, avert any trouble, was hit with something he simply couldn’t dodge; the draft for the Vietnam War. The feeling was akin to being hit by a freight train when he realized he couldn’t con his way out of this one. The only thing that uplifted his spirits when he reminisced about his failure to evade his nation's calling was the prideful, yet weeping expression that his mother wore when she watched him march in uniform alongside all the other mammals in his company who had successfully made it through basic training. 

Grueling couldn’t even begin to describe his experience in boot camp. He had never applied himself completely to anything else in his life before, always taking the easy way out. But there was no such route that existed on that dreadful training island, where a towering Cheetah drill instructor shouted some nonsensical and seemingly endless lists of insults at him while he forced his body through all sorts of physical torture. It had all been worth it, though, when for the first time in quite a while, Nick could say that his mother was proud of him. She was completely bawling when the march had ended and the soldiers were allowed to embrace their families and say goodbye before they shipped off. His mother had made him promise her that he’d write her as often as he could. 

She held the sides of his muzzle in her paws with a sorrowful look in her eyes as she said her last goodbyes.

“There’s no sense in being a hero, Nicholas. You just be smart out there and stay alive.”

“I know, Mom.”

”I’m not sure what I’d do if you died in a war like your father. You come back to me in one piece, you hear me Nicholas?”

“I will, Mom.”

She gave him one last tight embrace before he boarded the ship heading to Vietnam

However fulfilling her pride in him was, it wasn’t enough to make him feel at ease for the danger that was to come. He had heard stories of the gruesome battles and operations that had taken place in the former years of the war, albeit stories that originated from mere rumors that had floated around the barracks when the drill instructor wasn’t immediately present. What hadn’t been mere rumor though was the combat footage taken by civilian news teams that Nick had watched on his buddy Finnick’s miniature box T.V. The footage showed the grizzly wounds soldiers had sported while returning from a firefight with the Vietcong deep in the jungle.

He was jarred from his thoughts as the Transport Huey abruptly touched down onto the designated landing area within the Nui Dat Son Firebase. It was from here that he, and one other infantry soldier, would be transported to their new platoon acting as replacements, and would serve in that platoon for the foreseeable future of the war. His travel companion, Robert Schneider, was a rather pudgy looking pig who appeared as though he were about to puke his guts out for the duration of the helicopter ride. Nick hadn’t spoken to Robert much, and frankly, he didn’t want to. The way Robert held himself already told Nick that he wouldn’t last long, and getting to know him would be useless. 

As they hopped off the Huey, Nick saw that someone was waiting for them. A corporal, who was abnormally lanky and tall for an otter, stood to the side of the vehicle with his hands behind his back. Nick and Robert approached the corporal and stood at attention. The otter looked them over, apparently unimpressed. _It must be an unimpressive sight,_ Nick thought, _seeing a pig and a fox who had just been trained and had no experience._ After the corporal finished giving them a critical eye, he spoke first.

“You them new replacements?”

“Yes, sir.” Both Nick and Robert answered in unison, well aware of how to answer a higher ranking mammals’ questions, something that was drilled into their heads at boot camp.

“At ease,” the otter replied, and the pair visibly relaxed. “Follow me.” he curtly finished.

With that the otter twisted on his feet and headed off for one of the Firebase structures. Nick and Robert looked at each other, then did exactly what the corporal had ordered of them and started tailing the otter. While following the marine mammal, Nick took in his surroundings. The base itself was encompassed by a barbed-wire fence complete with a low wall of sandbags. A fourth of the base was occupied by M102 105 mm Howitzer artillery pieces, each massive gun separated by circular rows of sandbags. Another fourth of the base was taken up by supplies and ammo dumps, and the rest of the base consisted of simple one story makeshift structures, all fortified with sandbags. The structures, he had to guess, were designated as barracks for resting soldiers, radio and communication hubs, and anything else that might be necessary at a military Firebase. Looking at the mammals who occupied the base, Nick noticed there wasn’t any of the hustle and bustle he had come to expect of a United States of Animalia military base. On the contrary, mammal soldiers were lounging about, playing games and drinking beer, making the place look like one big fraternity party.

The trio made for one of the structures towards the middle of the Firebase, and as they entered it, Nick discovered that his assumptions were partially correct, as he found himself in a radio/communication room. Unlike the casual atmosphere the rest of the Firebase held, there was a flurry of activity inside the fortified shack, and in the middle of it was an imposingly large Cape Buffalo. He adorned the same pattern jungle fatigues that Nick and everyone else were wearing, although Nick surmised that he could probably use the buffalos tunic as a bedsheet for a fox-sized queen bed. The only equipment he wore on his hulking pistol belt, which was rather sparse compared to the immense amount of gear Nick was carrying, was a canteen, an M1911 pistol holster, and an ammo pouch for said pistol. The giant in question had both hooves planted on a tabletop as he leaned in studying what appeared to be a captured enemy map with Vietnamese markings inscribed on it.

Seeming to notice that the buffalo was completely oblivious of their presence, the corporal otter cleared his throat.

“Lieutenant Bogo, I’ve got them reinforcements we had comin’ in today”

  
  


After taking a moment to analyze the piece of captured information one last time, he glanced up, and at seeing the two recruits his corporal was referring to, he snorted in amusement.

“These two sorry looking cherries?” Lieutenant Bogo inquired.

“Uh, yessir. Privates Schneider and Wilde, sir.” The otter said, answering his rhetorical question.

The Cape buffalo turned his attention to Robert, seemingly deciphering what type of mammal the pig was just by staring at him.

“Do you know how to shoot that thing?” The buffalo asked, gesturing to the M16A1 rifle slung over his shoulder.

After a moment of not hearing anything, Nick turned his head to look at Private Schneider and saw that the pig was no longer sick from the helicopter ride, but wore a pale face nonetheless. It was apparent to anyone paying attention to the interaction that the pig was struck with fear of his towering superior, acting as though he did not understand that it was him who the Lieutenant was talking to.

It took a few more excruciating moments of silence filled by the background chatter of the radio room before Robert seemed to catch on and deftly replied.

“Oh-uh, yes sir! I know very well how to, sir!”

At that, the Cape buffalo just snorted in amusement again. Then turned his attention towards Nick, acknowledging his presence for the first time with a slight look of distaste. It was apparent to him at that moment why Robert had gotten so worked up, being held under the gaze of the monstrously large mammal was quite intimidating.

“And what about you, _fox?_ You are aware that desertion is punishable by death, yes? My platoon is full of reliable mammals. Can I trust that you won’t go running off at the first sign of trouble?”

Discrimination because of his species wasn’t something that was new to Nick. It’s something he had experienced his entire life. Normally when someone threw a speciesist insult or stereotype at him, he’d simply let it roll off his back, give a smug smile, and walk away. Bogo accusing him of being a coward because he was a fox had quite effectively irked him, however. It made him think of his father, who had served in WWII, and had died a brave and honorable death. That’s not how other mammals saw it after the war, though. For years Nick’s mom was accused of marrying a yellow-bellied coward, who died because of that cowardice on the battlefield. So, against his better judgement, Nick stood up straighter, threw up a mock salute and replied in the most sarcastic, snarky voice he could muster.

“Sir yes sir! I will stand my ground no matter what, sir!”

Nick took satisfaction in watching the Lieutenant bristle at his reply, his gaze turning to an icy glare, nostrils flaring with rage at the insubordination the private had shown to his superior. His face lost all its vitriol in a second, however, and to Nick’s dismay, his lips turned slightly upward as his expression turned to one of sadistic plotting.

“Corporal Williams,” the buffalo started, turning the otters' attention away from the exchange that had just transpired and back to him. “See to it that Private Schneider is put in Sergeant Manchas’ squad.” Then, looking back at Nick with an even more sadistic look on his face, he continued. “As for this fox, be sure to put him into Sergeant Hopps’ squad.”

* * *

For the first time since he arrived in the country, Nick’s immediate fear wasn’t of the impending combat that he’d have to participate in. No, that wasn’t his main concern at all. What he was concerned about was this Sergeant Hopps he’d been assigned to. While sitting in a Jeep headed for an entrenchment where his and a few other squads were, Nick thought back to the horror stories he had heard in the training barracks about officers who were sick and twisted mammals, who treated their squads like shit just for the fun of it. Was Sergeant Hopps one of such mammals? It was at that moment that Nick had regretted showing such disrespect to Lieutenant Bogo. It only made sense that, to have the last laugh, Bogo went ahead and assigned him to a Sergeant that would force a cocky fox like Nick to do no more than walk into a minefield, or explore a boobytrapped enemy tunnel. As they neared the entrenchment, a pit had developed in the bottom of Nick’s stomach as the anticipation of finding out who would be in charge of his life grew stronger and stronger.

Eventually, the entrenchment came into view through the parted jungle foliage on the narrow trail. True to its name, the entrenchment was nothing more than a circuit of dugout trenches in the ground complete with sandbags to raise the height of the parapets. The Jeep came to a halt, and the driving Corporal Williams turned to speak to Nick, a look of boredom clearly painted on his face.

“Welp, this is it. Sergeant Hopps should be in the command trench, just right over there.” The otter pointed over to one of the rearward trenches.

With that, Nick jumped out of the vehicle and watched as the Corporal drove back down the trail and disappeared into the overwhelming green. Nick took a moment to give the entrenchment a once over. It sat on a relatively small dirt hill that was free of trees or foliage, almost like an island in the middle of the expansive jungle ocean. Mammals could be spotted standing outside of the trenches, either digging and adding onto the trench system or doing some other laborious task. 

Nick steeled his nerves and made his way for the trench previously indicated by Williams, expecting the worst. Not wanting to collide with anyone as he hopped into the trench, he scanned the inside of it as he approached. Not seeing any mammals in the immediate vicinity of where he planned to drop in, he went ahead and did so.

Nick frankly didn’t know what to expect when he saw his squad sergeant for the first time. If the last name was anything to go off of, he guessed that he could’ve been a kangaroo, or something to that effect. But what Nick saw standing in front of him when he leaped into the command trench was no kangaroo. It was, in fact, a small female bunny, roughly half his height. Instead of being dressed in the same OD green jungle fatigues as every other soldier, she wore a set of black and green tiger striped camouflage tunic and pants. Her equipment was not dissimilar to Nicks, although she had some pieces of gear only obtained by commandos. She was equipped with an XM177E1 commando carbine, which was essentially the same as Nicks rifle, but it had a 5 inch shorter barrel and a collapsible stock, and even though it had a considerably smaller profile than Nicks rifle, it still looked slightly too large for the lapine.

Nick looked past said bunny further down the trench, then behind himself, but couldn’t spot any mammal he would’ve presumed to be his squad sergeant. He turned back to the rabbit to ask her where his squad sergeant was, when he noticed that the insignia that the rabbits uniform donned was that of a Staff Sergeant's insignia. The realization hit Nick like a pile of bricks; this small, adorable little thing _was_ his squad sergeant. The bunny was oblivious to the thought process, and subsequent realization, that she had broken when she spoke up.

“Ah, you must be the replacement Lieutenant Bogo told me was on his way. I’m Staff Sergeant Judy Hopps, I’ll be who you report to in this squad.” She spoke with a certain lightness and held a friendly and warm sort of smile that he wouldn’t have expected from someone in the shit. She extended her paw while inquiring “And what would your name be, Private?”

“Private Nick Wilde,” 

Nick answered in an almost robotic fashion, still dumbfounded at the revelation of just who this prey was. _Taking orders from a bunny, I’ll be damned. Finnick would be laughing his ass off if he could see me now,_ Nick thought. It was practically automatic when his hand was brought up and lightly grasped hers in a gentle shake. He could feel her soft velvety paw friction against his rough padded one as they gave one pump into their pawshake before disengaging. Sergeant Hopps seemed to have picked up on the expression Nick wore.

“You feeling okay there, Private?”

Realizing that he had shown his emotions plainly on his face for the first time ever, he quickly pulled on a smug mask and regained his composure as he dismissed her concerns.

“Just peachy, fluff. It’s just that for as long as I’ve been in this country, I’ve seen quite a few rice fields, but not a lot of carrot fields, so that makes me wonder what a cute little thing like you is doing in a place like this.”

The friendliness and warmth that was present on her face gave way for features that instead described slight annoyance.

“Look, Wilde, Manchas’ squad and mine alternate patrols every day, and every other day we receive enemy contact. I don’t need a fuckin' comedian to jeopardize the safety of my squad, so just as long as you do what I say, I’ll be able to keep them and you safe and it’ll all be gravy, ya dig?”

“You’re the boss, carrots.”

At that Judy simply rolled her eyes and continued speaking.

“Follow me, I’ll introduce you to your new squad mates.”

With that, she brushed past Nick and started traversing through the winding trench, with the Private following. It didn’t take long before they reached a wide rectangular area of the trench that multiple USGI OD green tarps that were attached to the sides of the upper sandbag walls of the trench parapets, creating a makeshift roof. Taking up a large portion of the area at the center was a table, at which 5 mammals were seated playing Blackjack. 

“Hey boys,” Judy started, drawing the mammals attention from the game down to her and the foreign fox. “FNG came in today, Private Nick Wilde. Say hi, everybody.”

To that, everybody just gave non-committed grunts and returned back to their card game.

“Wow. Quite a lively bunch you’ve got here, Sergeant Hopps.”

“A comedian, too, fuckin-A.” one of the mammals seated at the table, a lion, decided to comment.

“Yeah well, we’re working on it.” Judy replied, then proceeded to point out to Nick who was who.

“The ever so observant lion is Delgato. He’s our combat engineer, he’s got the torch. That rhinoceros and tigress are McHorn and Fangmeyer, he runs the pig and she feeds it. And finally we have the wolf and hippo, Wolford and Higgins. They’re both rifle grunts, just like you.”

"Uh huh." Nick commented, clearly entertained with the peanut gallery of a squad he'd been assigned to.

"Hey fellas, you mind if I join the game?"

The rhinoceros named McHorn, Nick remembered, snorted at that, apparently amused at the suggestion.

"Fat chance, fox. I don't feel like losing all my smokes to a cheat."

"Be nice, McHorn," Judy admonished. "This fox is gonna be the one watching your back in the rubber."

McHorn let out a humorless laugh at the claim. "The day a fox has my back is the day the NVA declare their surrender."

"They'll warm up to you," Judy turned to Nick, ignoring the rhinoceros' retort.

"Mmm, I'm sure." Nick replied, not entirely convinced of it.

* * *

Soon darkness fell on the jungle, making it much more intimidating than in daylight. After the pleasantries with the squad were out of the way, Sergeant Hopps showed Nick where to lay out his sleeping roll, and briefed him for the day that was to come.

"Patrol starts at 0430, so be ready by then. If you're not, then you can bet your ass I'll have you on sentry duty till you're sleep deprived. We're likely to run into some heat tomorrow, so just keep your head down and listen to me and I'll make sure you make it to the next day. If you need me, my bunk is just down the trench where you first jumped in. You got that?"

Nick nodded, and Judy made to head off for her trench, but Nick was still confused about something.

"Erm, Hopps," he said, stopping the rabbit in her tracks, turning back towards Nick.

"This might be strange to ask, but why do you give a shit what happens to me? Why do you care enough to watch out for me?"

At that, Judy sighed. "A lot of Sergeants and higher ranking mammals will leave FNGs clueless, and often let hang them out to dry. 'It's better that they die shortly, then to die later on,' they'll say. But that's not the right thing to do. I'm looking out for you, Wilde, because I want to see you make it out of this war alive, along with everybody else. I'm not stupid. I've seen good mammals die in this squad, and I can't stop that. But that's no excuse not to try." 

She smiled, then walked off, being consumed by the darkness of the trench, leaving Nick more confused than before he asked.


	2. These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that inspired the title of this chapter: https://youtu.be/rypT2qMO1RY
> 
> WOW OKAY, so it turns out it’s A LOT harder to write a full length fan fiction on schedule than I originally anticipated. I didn’t realize how busy I would be with procrastinating school and doing that one thing with that other thing, I'm sure you guys know how it is. Again, just to reiterate, I probably will be posting chapters late all the time, but I WON’T give up on this thing. LOOK I get that this is like a month late lmao, but in my defense, this ones a DOOZY. Real big, too, like almost twice as big as the first chapter when all’s said and done I’m pretty sure. Let’s see uhhhh we got a LOT of swearing in this one, which was par for the course in the Vietnam War, so be ready for that. We also got some slightly gruesome depictions of violence and gore. Since this one’s so massive and I wrote it in a bunch of little chunks over the past few weeks, there’s destined to be some goofs and spelling errors. I’m quite the perfectionist when it comes to that stuff, so if you’re one of the first readers of this chapter I would GREATLY appreciate it if you’d comment saying what typo/error you saw and where in the text it was. Other comments, questions, concerns, and or suggestions just let me know below :) Put a lot of work into this one, so I hope you all enjoy the read. Cheers, boys!!

“Alright mammals, saddle up. Staggered file formation. Higgins, I want you up here with me. Wolford, keep an eye on Wilde in the back.”

Wolford sighed heavily at having been assigned ‘babysitter’ for the new squad member, and reluctantly resigned. 

“Copy that, Sergeant.”

It was 0435 and Nick was ready for patrol, just as Judy had asked. He’d been ready for quite a while that morning, actually, as he had slept very little the previous night. Already he could feel the fatigue and lack of sleep creeping up on him, his equipment feeling like lead weights on his shoulders and body. Though it was early morning and the temperature was cooler, it was still humid as ever, and Nick's standard issue OD green cotton shirt clung to his damp fur like a wetsuit.

The group of soldiers fell into their designated spots, and on Judy's command, started their patrol into the green growth. Nick kept glancing back at the entrenchment, which quickly disappeared as they descended on the rough trail. Only when the entrenchment was out of view did Nick develop a sense of unease. He and his squad were now utterly engulfed by the vicious jungle, and that made him feel completely vulnerable at all sides. The situation had finally set in for Nick, and he realized that fighting the enemy wasn’t going to be as straightforward as he had originally planned for. When Nick was little, he had read old letters his father had written for his mother before he died, which she kept in a shoe box hidden in her closet. In some of the letters, his father described how there were two sides that were split up by the front lines in Europe, and that they had a general idea of which direction the enemy was at all times. However, that was not the case at all here in Vietnam. At any given moment, they could be ambushed by a group of VC guerrilla fighters. The rest of the squad knew that, yet somehow they held themselves in a very nonchalant manner, considering the situation. It was very dissimilar to Nick, who began feeling incredibly queasy at the stark revelation that had just dawned on him.

In an attempt to calm himself down, he decided to make conversation and ask his squad mate closest to him about something that had been boggling his mind.

“Hey Wolford, what’s the story on the bunny?”

“Who, Hopps?”

“No, the other doe in our platoon.” Nick deadpanned.

“Hey watch your fuckin’ tone, cherry, ‘fore I frag your ass.” Wolford snapped.

After having regained his composure, Wolford ended up informing Nick on the subject.

“She first got here back in ‘65, as a military advisor.”

“No shit,” Nick said, clearly impressed at the extent of Judy’s service. He knew there was more to Hopps than what met the eye.

“Apparently she went to an officers school fresh outta high school for a while, then came over here to help out some ARVN troops. Not long after she got picked up by MACV-SOG and rolled with them for a bit. I’m not sure what happened when she got dropped, or what she did to end up in this shitty platoon, but she’s as good as they come. That ain’t no shit, neither. When things go FUBAR, she’s quick on her paws and sharp as a nail.”

“Huh.” Nick replied, rather dumbly.

He would’ve never guessed any of that by just looking at the rabbit. Nick glanced ahead of the formation towards the bunny in question. Her ears were erect and hyper aware, her posture attentive as her lavender purple eyes scanned the landscape. Nick wasn’t sure why, but there was something about this doe that was strangely enrapturing. 

Nick turned back to the wolf and inquired about him.

“What about you?”

Wolford's lips turned slightly upwards at the center of attention being shifted towards himself.

“Got me 56 days left till I get back home. You know, when I first got here I—“ 

_KRAK KRAK KRAK_

The canines dialogue was abruptly cut short by the cracking of gunfire and the whizzing of bullets nearby from the tree line in front of the squad. 

“Enemy contact, fall back and get behind cover!!” Judy shouted to her squad.

Nick was paralyzed in a moment of fear, the tangy smell of gunpowder overwhelming his olfactory senses. He remained completely still until Wolford grabbed him by the arm and yanked him backwards, towards a nearby fallen tree.

“Come on, get going you stupid shit!” Wolford yelled at him over the ensuing gunfire.

Broken out of his stunt, Nick picked up his slack and ran forward, hopping over the tree and taking cover, clinging to his rifle. His squad mates were close by, each one hidden behind various jungle concealment. 

“Fangmeyer, feed me!” McHorn shouted at the tigress, who promptly got on her belly next to him and handed him a belt of ammunition, which he took and loaded into his M60. He pulled back on the charging handle and immediately began hammering away, firing at the enemy’s general vicinity.

The distance between them and the Vietcong seemed to be too great for Delgato to use his flamethrower, so for the moment he sat behind some cover, occasionally peeking around with his 1911 pistol to squeeze some shots off.

Nick looked to Wolford to see what he was doing, then copied him in his actions. He swiveled up and rested his M16 on the fallen tree, flicked the fire-selector from safe to full auto, and started firing rounds in brief bursts at the enemy. Next to him, Wolford seemed to be enjoying himself a little too much, considering the situation.

“Yeah, you like that Charlie? Come get some you commie fucks!”

After emptying his first few magazines, Nick’s rifle had a failure to eject, so he ducked back behind cover. While clearing the jam, he took the time to glance over at Hopps and Higgins. Higgins was firing his M16 in short bursts like Nick and Wolford, though the emotional strain of the firefight was clearly visible on his face. Hopps, on the other hand, looked completely in her element, lobbing grenades into the jungle before firing concentrated shots from her commando carbine.

After a strenuous moment of shooting from the soldiers, Judy realized that the enemy had stopped firing back for some time, so she shouted to her squad.

“Cease fire, cease fire!” 

The group immediately stopped firing, and to their surprise the Vietcong had already stopped as well. Everyone was scanning the area in front of them for a moment before the bright muzzle flash from an AK-47 was seen too late, as a Vietnamese mammal across from them popped off a three round burst.

“Augh! God, I’m hit! I’m kool-aid, I’m fucking kool-aid!” McHorn howled in pain, the three lead projectiles finding their way into his lower abdomen.

Everyone in the squad immediately started firing back, rage filling them for the communist bastard who injured their friend.

“Fangmeyer, dress up McHorn! Delgato, get on the pig!” Judy ordered, vigilantly in tune with the situation at hand. Fangmeyer was already pulling out some bandages when Judy asked, and Delgato quickly rushed over and took position with the MG, firing madly into the jungle.

“Higgins, radio!” Judy demanded, and Higgins crept over to her, turning his back to her so she could have access to the radio he was equipped with. Judy removed the handset and started yelling into the radio.

“Strongpaw, Strongpaw, this is Leg Llama 6, over.” The incessant sound of machine gun and rifle fire relentlessly continued as Judy tried to keep command abreast of the events transpiring. The radio handset crackled to life, and command was in contact with Judy.

“Leg Llama 6, this is Strongpaw, over.” The handset replied in a staticky muffled voice.

“Strongpaw, be advised, we’re taking heavy suppressive fire from Victor Charlie from the treeline at point blue plus two. We’ve got one mammal critically injured and in need of a Dust-off ASAP, how copy?”

“We’ll send our guys your way, Llama 6, just stay cool and tell us where to touch down, over.”

“Roger, we’ll pull out and put a purple smoke at a clearing just southwest of our position. Over and out.”

With radio communications at a close, she returned the handset to Higgins' radio and turned to address her squad.

“Listen up mammals, we’re gonna fall back and get McHorn heli’d outta here. Chopper’s gonna land at a clearing we passed a little while ago. Fangmeyer and Higgins will drag McHorn and fall back first, while you all give covering fire. Wilde and Wolford will fall back after, and Delgato and I will tail you guys out of here. Fangmeyer, Higgins, get to it!” Judy bellowed out. Fangmeyer and Higgins, although obviously struggling with McHorn's weight, slowly dragged the rhino out and away from the firefight while their squad gave covering fire. Wilde and Wolford then got up and quickly made a beeline in the same direction, then finally Delgato and Hopps stopped firing and immediately sprinted out of the area.

The covering fire given by the squad gave enough time for Fangmeyer, Higgins, and McHorn to get a reasonable lead, so that when Nick, Wolford, Judy, and Delgato caught up, they were able to lose any possible Charlie tailing them.

It was clear that Fangmeyer and Higgins were having a hard time moving the Rhinoceros at that point, so Delgato and Wolford started to help McHorn along as well. The group of soldiers moved in silence, save for the groans of pain from McHorn, until they eventually came to the aforementioned clearing, a gap in the jungle just barely wide enough for a Huey to safely land and take off from. Judy stepped forward and removed a smoke grenade from her equipment harness, placing it on the ground and pulling the pin. After stepping back, the smoke grenade started to make an audible hissing sound as a cloud began to emit from the cylinder canister. It took a few moments of fizzing from the grenade before smoke started to cover the whole area and rise above the jungle brush. Not long after, the very distinct hum of the Huey helicopter could be heard in the distance, growing louder and louder by the second. The cloud of artificial fog was quickly whisked away as the Huey started to descend on the clearing, the pilot being very careful to slowly maneuver to the ground as the squad stood back. There was a moment of hesitant hovering from the helicopter before it touched down on the ground, at which point a jaguar door gunner stepped out and helped the squad lift McHorn into the chopper. 

“Fangmeyer, I’m gonna need you to go with McHorn and keep an eye on him. We’ll see you soon.” Judy said, after making sure McHorn was secure in the vehicle.

“Yessum. Be safe out there, Sarge,” Fangmeyer said as she climbed aboard with the jaguar. Judy simply replied with a silent nod.

The squad, now dwindling in numbers, stepped back and watched as their other squad members ascended and flew out of view. They remained silent as they listened to the buzzing of the helicopter slowly fade away.

“Bastards….” Delgato growled under his breath. He continued, crescendoing to a shout. “Those fuckin’ bastards!!” 

He turned to Judy. “They can’t be far, let’s go make them pay for what they did.” 

Wolford raised his voice, agreeing with Delgato. “Yeah Hopps, let’s waste every last fucking one of them.”

“Are you guys fucking nuts?!” Higgins hastily interjected, apparently worried at the risk of going after the enemy. “We were lucky to get out of there with just one GSW, we still have no clue how many there were!”

“You yellow-bellied prick,” Delgato shot back. “I oughta—“ “Delgato, shut the fuck up.” Judy cut him off. He didn’t speak, but he held Higgins with a scowl, a look of disgust at his cowardice written on his face.

Higgins ignored Delgato, instead focusing on Judy. “Sarge, let's just go back. It’s really not worth it.” 

“Higgins, you will do as I order. Even if that means getting back into the shit.” 

Higgins looked like he wanted to say something in reply to that, but bit his tongue nonetheless.

“Good,” Judy said, before going on. “Now, I don’t want to spend all day trying to track these assholes down just to get ambushed by them again. I think our best course of action is to quickly scout out the area, see if we find anything, and if not then we make for base. Are we good?”

Nick, Wolford, and Delgato all nodded in unison, but Higgins remained still. Judy took note and turned to Higgins with a cold look.

“Are we good, Higgins?”

Higgins let out a labored sigh before saying anything. “Yes, Sarge.”

“Okay then. Take a moment to recuperate, we move out in 5.”

* * *

With the excitement of the firefight over and Nick’s adrenaline wearing off, he began to grow incredibly weary. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been walking until he noticed that his hind paws were now completely sore from the friction of his jungle boots. Despite his exhaustion, he still remained vigilant, mostly due to the fact that he was feeling more insecure and exposed now that not only was his squad considerably smaller in size, but the mammals who were responsible for that were still out there.

To his surprise, Judy looked utterly unfazed by the previous events, still on high alert as her ears rotated and scanned the jungle for any sounds that would indicate an enemy presence.

The group returned to where the firefight originally took place, although this time cautiously continued walking towards where the enemy position had been. Judy abruptly stopped walking, making the squad immediately halt behind her. She seemed to be surveying the ground, so Nick looked to where she was looking. Steel cartridge shells littered the vicinity, verifying that this had been where the enemy took position, but Nick couldn’t see anything else that would’ve proved useful. Judy thought otherwise, and took two steps forward after having spotted something else. She got down on her haunches and inspected the ground in front of her more closely.

“Blood trail. Looks like we hit one of them. Wolford, see if you can get anything.”

Judy then stood up and took a step back, as Wolford approached and bent down. His nose twitched rapidly as he sniffed the splat of blood covering the jungle floor leaves, memorizing its distinct scent. He then bent back up and began sniffing at the air, trying to identify that same scent elsewhere. 

After a moment of orienting himself, he appeared to have found a trace.

“I got something, Sarge, going this way.”

He pointed in a seemingly random direction into the jungle.

“Alright. Keep your eyes peeled, mammals. Wolford, lead the way.”

And with that, they followed the canine deeper into the green abyss. 

As the wolf went where his nose directed him, Nick thought about how he was frankly impressed with Wolford’s keen sense of smell. Nick knew his was better than most, but he was now seeing first hand that a wolf’s sense of smell truly was superior to that of everyone else’s. 

The group traversed across the Vietnamese forest for a little while, not seeing anything of significance, until they started to approach a green hill clear of brush. As they neared the edge of it, Wolford turned to Judy.

“Our guy is definitely somewhere around here.” 

“Good work, Wolford. I’ll take it from here.”

With that, Hopps crouched down and gestured for her squad to do the same as she crept up towards the base of the hill. She peered at the top of the geographical bump, and finally recognized the fruits of their efforts. 

“Oh shit, we got a bunker.”

The rest of the squad looked in the same direction, and after a moment saw the fortification she was referring to.

“What do we do, Hopps?” Wolford inquired.

Judy was still for a moment, her brow furrowed as she assessed the situation and conjured a plan.

Seeming to make up her mind, she began. “Okay. Here’s what’s gonna happen. The four of us are gonna start firing at that bunker to divert their attention, while Delgato flanks up this right way on the edge and torches the fuckers when he gets up there. I need Higgins on the pig down here, so you’re gonna have to fork her over Delgato.”

An ear splitting grin found its way onto Delgato’s face by the time Judy finished, himself being absolutely elated at the prospect of using his flamethrower.

“Fuck yeah! Here you go, Higgins, I don’t want to play with this anymore.” He carelessly tossed the M60 onto the ground in front of the hippo.

“Hey easy with that thing, dumbass.” Higgins scolded, annoyed at Delgato’s rough treatment of the weapon.

“How about you bite me, faggot.” The lion growled out.

“Delgato, knock it off and get fucking moving.” 

Delgato un-holstered his flamethrower and began his stealthy trek up the side of the hill.

“Okay mammals, open fire when ready.”

The soldiers all flipped their weapons safety catches off and began hammering away at the bunker. Vietnamese shouting could be heard from atop the hill as the enemy began firing back.

As Nick tried to fire at the bunker as accurately as he could, bullets from the Vietcong were hitting the ground in front and around him sending dirt up, making him incredibly nervous. He didn’t have to worry for much longer, though, as Delgato could be seen at the top of the hill already, creeping up to the bunker. When he reached a distance he saw fit, he stood up, readied his torch, and let loose. A bright arch of flame could be seen shooting from Delgato’s figure and into the bunker. Cries of agonizing pain was the response from the bunker, as the enemy screamed out for mercy. The feeling of relief Nick experienced when Delgato stopped the enemy fire was canceled out by the empty feeling Nick received while witnessing mammals being burned alive. Wolford picked up on that, and began to poke fun at the recruit.

“Pretty fucking ruthless, eh Wilde?” He said with a grin as he elbowed the fox’s side.

Judy gazed at the top of the hill where plumes of black smoke were now rising from the bunker. She waited for a moment before shouting to the lion atop the hill.

“We all good Delgato?”

“Come up here and have a look for yourself!” Was the distant response that he cried out.

She promptly got up, reloaded her rifle, and started up the hill with her squad following close behind. 

It didn’t take long before they reached Delgato, but it was before then that Nick had to utilize every reserve of energy within him to not puke. The overwhelming stench of the burning bodies seemed too much for the vulpine as he couldn’t stop himself from gagging. Wolford saw this, but instead of ostracizing Nick like he would’ve come to expect from the wolf, he instead offered words of sympathy.

“The first time you smell it is the worst, I still remember when I had to keep myself from throwing chunks. You get used to it though, believe me.”

Judy inspected the smoldering bunker when they reached the top, then nodded to herself upon verifying that all the enemy had in fact been charred to a crisp. She turned to Delgato to compliment him on his work.

“Good job, Delgato.”

Delgato had a dopey grin still plastered on his face, apparently satisfied with his own work as well.

“If I could light up one of these Vietcong-filled bunkers every day, I wouldn’t ever go home.”

Judy, content with her inspection of the devastation caused by one of her squad members, turned back to her squad. 

“Let’s take a look around the area, see if we find anything, then head back to base.”

With that, the squad began looking about the place for anything of significance. It wasn’t long before one of the squad mates located a small hole in the ground that Nick could only assume was the entrance of an enemy tunnel. The opening was only big enough for Judy to fit through, which was why it wasn't a surprise when Judy addressed her squad clarifying that she would act as tunnel rat.

“I’m gonna check this out, I need you mammals to set up a parameter and watch the area while I’m down there. I want you all to spread out on the edge of the hill and keep a look out for any VC on their way back to this bunker.”

She then removed a rather small Smith & Wesson snub-nosed revolver from a holster, as well as a standard issue flashlight, and began her descent into the underground labyrinth.

Higgins looked up from the hole and spoke to the squad, temporarily assuming authority while Judy was occupied.

“You fellas heard her, everybody pick a side and keep your heads straight.”

And so the soldiers split up and went off to stand guard at the flanks of the hill. When Nick reached his position he vigilantly perused the green forest in front of him for as long as he could before he inevitably let his sleep deprived thoughts drift away as he recollected the day so far.

As it stood, Nick had been subjected to a combat interaction with the enemy and lived to reconcile it. _That has to be worth something, right?_ He thought to himself. A rather grim reminder hung over his shoulders, however. He was soon to make it through one day in Vietnam, but how on earth could he make it through 364 more? Surely his luck would run out by then. 

Nick was jarred from his thoughts when he heard a rustling sound from within the jungle. He readied his rifle and tried his best to control his breathing as he waited for someone to emerge. Sure enough, a Vietnamese weasel holding an SKS rifle much too big for an animal of his stature came waltzing from out of the bush. He locked eyes with Nick and hurriedly tried to pull up his rifle to shoulder it and fire, but by that time it was far too late. Nick had already centered the middle prong of his rifle's front sight with the rear aperture, lining it up with the mammal in front of him and holding the rifle tight in his paws as he pulled the trigger. He managed to send 5 rounds down range before he eased his grip and stopped firing, and not a moment sooner the weasel collapsed in a heap onto the jungle floor.

While riding on the boat to Vietnam, Nick had time to think about a lot of things. One of those things was what it was going to be like taking another mammal's life. His father said in his letters that every soldier reacts differently when they kill another mammal, and Nick spent his time overseas pondering what his reaction would be. Looking back on that now, he tried best to describe to himself how he felt after taking the leap. To his surprise, he didn’t feel twisted with guilt, or somber from the experience, or anything like that. On the contrary, Nick felt alive, to put it bluntly. All his senses were clean and sharp, and his mind was clear and serene. 

Nick was still high on the adrenaline that came from shooting someone when Wolford came over to see what the gunfire was about.

“Wilde, are you okay? What happened?”

“I got one!!” Nick said turning to Wolford wide eyed, ecstatic from receiving his first confirmed kill.

“I got one, I fucking got one Wolford! I shot the dumb bastard fucking dead!! He didn’t even see it coming!” 

Nick was howling with excitement as Wolford gave him a hearty pat on the back.

“Congrats Wilde, you popped your cherry. On your first day of patrol, too.”

No more complications arose before Judy emerged from the tunnel entrance. Her fur was matted with dirt, grime, sweat, and what could only be the blood of the enemy. Tucked within her belt was a bundle of papers and maps from her underground trek, having amassed quite a stack while down there. 

“We gotta get these documents back pronto. Let’s head back the way we came and get back to base.”

Now reunited with their commanding Sergeant, the squad began circling around to the other side of the hill, along a path next to the bunker. It was when they started walking, however, that Nick noticed something ahead of them on the path. A glistening, silver line was floating above the ground. It took Nick much too long to comprehend what it was before he realized that his squad leader was about to trip over it. Without thinking, his paw shot forward and grabbed Judy by the ears, pulling her back and off of the ground, holding her up in a rather comical fashion.

The group of soldiers immediately stopped dead in their tracks and all watched with great interest as the FNG held their Sergeant up by the ears. 

The first thing that Nick noticed was just how soft a rabbit's ears were. It felt unequivocally luxurious to be holding them, and Nick felt guilty for taking such pleasure in doing so. The second thing Nick noticed was the look of unbridled rage that the rabbit who was attached to the ears held him with. Panic began to rise in Nick when his brain finally caught up with his actions, and in a voice that was all too artificially calm, Judy spoke softly.

“Private Wilde, if you don’t put me down in the next 5 seconds, I will shove this rifle so far up your ass that the last thing you will ever feel is the end of my barrel hitting the roof of your mouth.”

Nick immediately set the bunny down as quickly as possible and tried to explain himself, not wanting to try and catch the doe’s bluff.

“I didn’t mean to grab you by the ears, really!! It’s just—Look!” 

He pointed to the glistening wire that sat elevated where Judy was about to step moments ago.

Any pretense of anger that was present within Judy was replaced by only concern for her squads safety.

“This area’s booby trapped, watch where you step.” 

She then got down on one knee and used her combat knife to gingerly disarm the grenade-tripwire.

The soldiers extracted themselves from the hill as delicately as possible, and finally started the journey back to base camp.

* * *

The journey returning to their base went without a hitch, and soon they were back in their trenches. Nick felt like he would collapse at any moment after the strenuous day, and only managed to slip out of his gear before he eventually did collapse onto his sleeping pad. When he awoke, it was dark. He looked at his watch and saw that the time was 8:34. Feeling revitalized and without anything to do, he decided to check on his squad mates and see if they had something to keep him occupied. After mindlessly wandering the winding trenches for a little while, it dawned on him that his squad was not actually there. Wondering where they went, he decided to check the command trench to see if Hopps was present, and if she had any answers as to their squad's whereabouts. Finally he rounded a corner and reached a wider section of the trench, where he saw a familiar face. Sgt. Judy Hopps was seated at a small, round wooden table, where she lazily sharpened her knife. A bottle of bourbon whiskey sat idly on the table, thick water droplets of condensation collecting on it's cool glass surface. She looked up from her knife.

"Private Wilde. You slept well, I presume?"

"Like a pup. Where is everybody?"

"They went to go pick up Fangmeyer, and also went to say goodbye to McHorn one last time before the medical ships him out. He's doing alright, by the way. Any smaller of a mammal and he would've been iced, they said."

Nick nodded silently. The two remained quiet, neither one making a sound save for the repetitive scything noise of Judy's blade grinding against the whetstone.

"Care to join me?" Judy broke the silence.

With nothing else to do, Nick supposed there was no harm in doing so.

"I might as well, seeing as you're the only one with halfway decent whiskey in this whole damn country. Where the hell did you get that, anyways?"

Judy smiled at that. "My uncle sends me a bottle once a month. Sometimes it's bourbon, other times it's just scotch. Isn't there anybody at home to send you liquor, Wilde?"

Nick ignored her question, instead replying with one of his own. "You sure you don't mind sharing your drink with a shifty old fox?" He grasped the glass bottle of whiskey and took a swig of the smooth cold alcohol, the taste of vanilla and caramel resonating on his tongue.

"Well seeing as how I wouldn't be sitting here right now if you hadn't snatched me from that tripwire, it's not too much trouble for me to share a little bourbon with you."

Nick remembered how he grabbed Judy by the ears, not realizing in the moment how violently he did so.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Are your ears, uhm,"

"My ears are fine, Wilde. I've gone through worse shit than being picked up by my ears."

Rather abruptly, Judy changed the subject.

"Wolford told me you popped your cherry today, is that right?"

"Yeah, while you were in the tunnels."

Judy set down her knife and whetstone and started studying Nick, raking over his figure with her curious lavender eyes. Nick started fidgeting, which in itself baffled him. Back home in the streets, he was known for keeping his cool no matter the circumstances, but for some strange reason, this little rabbit girl was making him nervous.

"How did it feel taking another mammal's life?"

"Uh, what? Shouldn't you know that?"

"Oh sure, I've killed plenty. But I want to know how it made _you_ feel."

"What the fuck is this? You're not my fucking shrink, rabbit."

"It's a simple question, Private Wilde. And no, I'm not you're fucking shrink, but I am your squad leader, so I suggest you tell me."

Nick let out an aggravated huff and relented, taking the time to think about how it actually did make him feel.

"It.... it felt good. It felt great, actually. I didn't know the first thing about McHorn, and I'm aware that the big fella wasn't fond of me, but getting those sneaky VC cunts back for what they did to him felt so invigorating, I--"

Nick stopped his ranting when he noticed how Judy was looking at him. Or more accurately, he noticed how she wasn't looking at him in the way he expected. A fox just told this bunny that he enjoyed killing, and instead of looking at him with disgust or fear, she just gazed at him with those big purple eyes that said she understood.

"Nick," His ears perked up at Judy having just used his first name. "you may not think this of yourself, but I can tell you're a good mammal. You could've let me cross that tripwire, and I saw how you were when Delgato was torching the VC in that bunker. You thought it was wrong, maybe barbaric even. But if the mammals in that bunker had it their way, you'd be skinned alive and hung out to dry. You're not wrong for finding pleasure in revenge or justice, but if you feed that pleasure more than you need to, it'll devour you. You've only been here for one day. I've been fighting in this war for 3 years. I've seen shit that'll make your stomach churn and keep you up for days on end, and you will too. This war is quite different from previous ones, I'm sure you know by now. When you start to get more experience, you'll notice that there's a line. You'll have to choose whether you want to cross that line or not. At times it'll seem like wrong isn't very far from right, and that crossing that line will be the right thing to do. I'll do my best to help you understand where that line is drawn, but in the end it'll be up to you whether you cross it or not. In this war, we lose a little bit of ourselves everyday that we're never gonna get back. But if you cross that line, you'll lose yourself completely."

"You want to make it out of this war, Nick, just like everybody else." She put her paw on his forearm. "But to do that, you can't ride this out alone. You're gonna have to completely put your trust in me. It might be difficult, but it's what you have to do to make it out of here alive. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Nick must've looked absurd, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. For the first time in his life, he was utterly speechless. He had no idea what to say. On one hand, he had no reason to trust this bunny soldier. What did her word to keep him alive mean to him? On the other hand, no one had ever told him that he was a good mammal before. And for her to even give a rats ass about not only his morality and actions, but also his life, was a surreal feeling for him. Nick reluctantly admitted that if anyone were to know how things worked around here, and thus was most likely to keep him alive, it would be Judy.

"I--" He tried to articulate himself, but no words came out. He instead opted for shutting his mouth and simply nodding yes.

"Good." Judy removed her paw and simply continued sharpening her knife, acting as though nothing had happened. Nick sat there dumbstruck for some time, until he eventually just shook his head and took another sip of whiskey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘VC’, ‘Victor Charlie’, and ‘Charlie’ are all variations of the term ‘Vietcong’, which is an abbreviation that was used for the Vietnamese Communists. To ‘frag’ someone in the military was to assassinate another friendly soldier, typically done to higher ranking officers by their own soldiers. ‘ARVN’, I’m sure you know, stands for ‘Army of the Republic of Vietnam’, and ‘MACV-SOG’ stands for ‘Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group’ which was essentially special ops at the time (think Metal Gear Solid). ‘FUBAR’ is a military term that stands for ‘Fucked Up Beyond All Reason’. ‘Kool-aid’ was a term used in Vietnam to describe someone who’s about to die. ‘Dust-Off’ was radio code for medical evac by chopper, and ‘GSW’ just means ‘Gunshot Wound’. ‘Tunnel rat’ was the name coined for the role of whoever was in charge of infiltrating Vietcong tunnels during the Vietnam War. Quite a gruesome task. And near the end of the chapter, Nick says rhetorically that Judy isn't his 'shrink', which I'm sure most of you know means therapist.

**Author's Note:**

> 'Cherry' is a term still used by the military today, referring to freshly recruited soldiers who have never killed or have any combat experience, being a virgin to war. Thus meaning they have yet to 'pop their cherries', in a manner of speaking, hence the term. 'FNG' stands for 'Fucking New Guy', a term that is essentially the same as cherry but was only used by soldiers during the Vietnam War. 'In the shit', along with 'in the rubber', just means inside a heavy combat zone, where many firefights take place. 'USGI' stands for United States Ground Issue, meaning standard equipment. When Delgato is said to be in possession of 'the torch', that's simply slang for flamethrower, and when Judy says that McHorn runs the pig and Fangmeyer feeds it, she is saying that McHorn is the squad's machine gunner and Fangmeyer is the assistant machine gunner. 'Pig' was a term commonly used at the time to describe the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun.


End file.
